


Love In Two Can Make It (Take My Heart and Please Don't Break It)

by wastelandzbaby



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Edward Nygma, Banter, Bisexual Edward Nygma, Bisexuality, But also, Canon Gay Character, Coming Out, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Manipulation, Established Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Future, Future Fic, Gay Male Character, Gotham City - Freeform, Heteronormativity, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jokes, M/M, Mentioned Isabella (Gotham), Mentioned Kristen Kringle, Mentioned Victor Zsasz - Freeform, Metropolis (DCU), Minor Isabella (Gotham)/Edward Nygma, Murder Husbands, Nicknames, Organized Crime, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Edward Nygma, POV Third Person, Partners in Crime, Past Abuse, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Possessive Behavior, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 05, Sexuality Crisis, Socially Awkward Edward Nygma, Villains, between isabella and ed, general villainy, it's barely relevant but it's there!, only vaguely & it's as consensual as possible, ozzy is soft for ed and only ed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 13:55:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18477601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastelandzbaby/pseuds/wastelandzbaby
Summary: Within their home, they'd become rather notorious over the years - The Penguin and The Riddler, dubbed the Kings of Gotham, partners in crime and life all the same - but Gotham was quite famously shut off from the rest of the world, and so everything outside the city's borders was different.[ aka the soft domestic Nygmobblepot future-fic I didn't know I wanted to write! ]





	1. L is for the way you Look at me

**Author's Note:**

> title is from "L O V E" by nat king cole~
> 
> this is set within the universe of the tv show gotham, and uses gotham's characterisations as bases, but due to some canon divergence and headcanoning (and the fact that this takes place after the show has ended), you don't need to have seen gotham to read and enjoy this - i'll try my best to explain anything you should know as well as possible!

It makes sense, to Ed, that people expect them to be a certain way.

He is, to any outward viewer, the more typically masculine of the two, with his suits and ties and canes, and the commanding way he speaks whenever he becomes Riddler - and Oswald is small in comparison, significantly shorter and narrower, in prettier purpler colours. He carries himself more elegantly, somehow, despite the way he hobbles and limps as he walks, and Ed still lumbers and stumbles beside him, infinitely less graceful. Oswald is sharper and more beautiful in his intensity, whilst Ed is more broad and obnoxious, dressed up in his neon greens and stark whites.

So it makes sense that people, when faced with the dilemma of a relationship with no man or woman, no specific pant-wearer, would turn to Ed first. They talk to him as if he's stronger, or wiser, or more socially aware, and he finds himself stumped with questions he doesn't know the answers to.

_(Ed is smart, yes, but smart in the way that sheltered children are smart. He can solve any riddle, explain any puzzle, fix any syntax error - but if you put him in the streets and expect him to socialise, he's utterly stumped, as if it conflicts with his programming. He's school-smart, not street-smart, and lacks the sharp silver tongue of his significant other, making up for it with intelligence and perception.)_

Oswald always catches him when he falls (however undeserving Ed may be of that kindness), and slots himself easily into the conversation. He was gifted in the way that Ed was not; he may be small and physically nonthreatening, but he has the tongue of a snake and the brain of a fighter. Years of being talked down to and disrespected in every way of the word has wisened him up to the way of the world, and he speaks sweetly and smartly - and whilst his words may not logically be possible, it stops mattering when the other party pales.

This particular event had begun with one such interaction, and Ed found himself gently tugged on a weaving path through groups of strangers, until Oswald found a table that was blissfully unoccupied. The smaller man huffed, uncurled his fingers from around Ed's forearm, and lowered himself into one of the chairs, sighing through his nose.

Ed hurried to sit beside him, tucking his hands into his lap, looking awfully submissive beside the proud posture of his boyfriend - and exhaled.

"Apologies," he found himself muttering, never quite meeting Oswald's eyes, "I wish they wouldn't speak to us like that."

Oswald watched him for a minute, eyes gloriously intense - everything about Oswald was intense, it always had been - before huffing, shaking his head, and tapping gently at his partner's knee. "You're fine, Ed," he spoke quietly, "it's never been your fault."

* * *

Within their home, they'd become rather notorious over the years - The Penguin and The Riddler, dubbed the Kings of Gotham, partners in crime and life all the same - but Gotham was quite famously shut off from the rest of the world, and so everything outside the city's borders was different. They'd only come to Metropolis for some party a distant ally had thrown, and now they found themselves almost liking it there.

It was quiet, compared to Gotham; admittedly, it wasn't hard. Metropolis still had its fair share of crime, but it wasn't quite as overwhelming as Arkham's reoccurring cast, and there was a notable lack of clowns. The only hero they'd heard word of was some pretty-boy in blue spandex who looked decently more welcoming than their beloved bat.

The hotel they'd decided to stay in was unusual in the fact that it looked more like a block of apartments than a hotel, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows and a layout so domestically beautiful that it took a world of restraint to not whip out his phone and take a few pictures to brag on social media. It was white and beige and pristine, just homely enough to feel safe and just fake enough to feel wrong.

Oswald had dropped his bags by the bedroom door and lay face-down on the bed, sprawled out like a star. Ed laughed lowly to himself, setting his luggage beside Oswald's and sitting gently beside him, staring up at the clean walls and even cleaner windows.

"This place is beautiful," he decided, smiling softly as his partner grunted in agreement, "and yet so out-of-character. There's not enough grit in the plaster to feel quite like home."

The smaller man hummed, rolling onto his back - Ed's smile only widened at the way his hair was ruffled - and stared up at him with tired eyes. "Vic knows the guy who owns the place," he said, as if that explained anything - and, really, it kind of did.

Victor Zsasz may not be a household name to the average citizen, but he was known by every businessman in Gotham City, and every other businessman who happened to work with a businessman in Gotham City. Over the years his assassinations had become more routine than necessity, and he'd started working on his own agenda just as much as others - if you wanted a man killed, Zsasz was a good friend to have, unless you happened to already be on his shit-list.

Logically, Oswald should be on Victor's shit-list several times, highlighted and underlined, circled viciously - and yet Victor seemed to have a soft spot for his old friend, dutifully carrying out his commissions, playfully falling back into their old boss-and-worker dynamic.

So when Oswald said "Vic knows the guy who owns the place," what he really meant was "the guy who owns the place is on thin ice" - which was fine by them, because the mattresses in this hotel were horrendously comfortable.

"Vic should make more friends," Ed lightheartedly added, falling back to lie beside the other man. Oswald snorted, reached over to tap at his thigh, smiled devilishly.

"We could get him some," he replied, keeping his voice light and genuine and joking, "Vic's a charismatic guy, it should be pretty easy."

"Oh, sure, his tinder's absolutely buzzing. He's a catch."

Oswald squinted. "And how would you know, sir?" he demanded, turning to glare at him. "Have you been unfaithful? Is Vic your mistress?"

And Ed - slightly red in the face from holding in his laughter - nodded solemnly, eyes downturned. Oswald's glare intensified for a moment, nails digging into Ed's leg, before he choked out a laugh, turning to look up at the ceiling.

"As if." Ed decided plainly, gently pulling Oswald's hand away from his thigh to intertwine their fingers. "You know I'm yours now, Mr Cobblepot."

And Oswald preened at the certainty of that statement, grinning wide and true. He gave their hands a firm squeeze. "Oh, absolutely."


	2. O is for the Only One I see

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oswald's glare melted, body relaxing. His expression became strange, as if he were looking down on an injured puppy, and he took Ed's hand with a gentle fondness that he'd never seen the man express before. "Oh, Eddie," he spoke softly, his voice sweet and sad, "you dumb motherfucker."
> 
> Ed's head shot up in shocked anger, before noticing the gentle playfulness in Oswald's soft gaze, the small smile working its way on his face. He paused, blinking owlishly at him, trembling just a little in his hold. "What?"
> 
> "You dumb, dumb, _dumb_ motherfucker," Oswald was laughing a little now, though it was more fond than cruel; "how fucking deep is that closet of yours, baby?"
> 
> [ aka the first obligatory flashback chapter! ]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm adding some new tags specifically for this chapter, and i'm hoping i can tag it correctly - but here's your warning just in case:
> 
> this chapter includes the uncomfy scene between ed & isabella ([here's the link, if you're unfamiliar with the show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn53CBD54p4)). their relationship is vaguely focused on in this chapter, and there's some implied emotional abuse in there too, but nothing too heavy just yet. it is (as always) written from ed's perspective, and so the way it is described is very emotional and in-the-moment, and reflects how creepy and manipulative that scene truly was, despite how the show presented it. i hope the way i wrote it portrayed how toxic and uncomfortable that relationship was.
> 
> (EDIT: if you wanna yell abt this w me, my tumblr is @jack-napiers!!)

A long time ago, Ed had been uncertain.

Not uncertain in what he felt, for he was infinitely certain that he loved Kristen dearly, and loving Isabella felt a lot like loving Kristen, if he closed his eyes and forgot all their differences. So he treated Isabella just as dearly as he'd treated Kristen, back when she'd been the one lying beside him, before he'd made his fatal mistake - and by the way Isabella smiled and loved him back, he was certain it was right.

Looking back on it now, he really shouldn't have been; Isabella had held his hands to her throat and forced him to watch her breathe, and he couldn't find it in him to shove her away or move his hands - but he remembers, with no hint of fondness, how he trembled. He remembers how she saw pain in his eyes and took it as strength, how she kissed him wearing Kristen's lipstick and taking Kristen's place. He remembers how truly and fully he'd cried, and how fake her smile seemed, how wrong her existence felt. She was no lover of his, no girlfriend, no woman at all - but sick problems needed sicker solutions, so the world filled the hole in Ed's heart with the closest thing to Kristen it could find.

And yet, he stayed certain with her.

It was Oswald who created the uncertainty - he's sure that the smaller man would take it as a compliment, if he ever found it in him to admit it. Ed found Oswald just as pretty as Kristen, now that companionship had drawn them closer, and his heart echoed the sentiment truthfully. When he said that he'd do anything for him, he meant it, dearly and sincerely, and he found no problem in holding Oswald tight and swearing his allegiance.

Perhaps, if things had gone differently - if Ed was not blinded to Isabella's coldness by her familiarity, if Oswald's judgement was not clouded by jealousy, if whoever had put them down on this earth had been a touch sweeter - then they would've loved each other then, as they do now. But that was not the case.

Ed thinks back on their cruelty with a generous helping of discomfort; the acidic words and heartless actions feel distant and wrong, starkly contrasting the warmth and care their words held now. They weren't kind, no, for it wasn't in their nature - Edward Nygma would always be pretentious and snarky, Oswald Cobblepot would always be aggressive and harsh - but they were better to each other than anyone else.

Allegiances in Gotham don't really last too long if you're not willing to spare a little something for your teammates. Ed had watched it happen countless times - Theo Galavan, Butch Gilzean, Jerome Valeska; household names with household stories of betrayal and cruelty. As notorious as Ed wished to become, he'd rather a stolen plaque than a gravestone.

Once it all had settled - when Isabella was dead and buried, when both men had gotten over their grudges, when Ed found himself smiling at the familiar dynamic he'd been so hesitant to settle into - Ed had no room for his uncertainty anymore.

It wasn't that he was any more certain, but rather that he was sick of being uncertain, and thus had taken Oswald by the arm one day and asked him.

_(His timing wasn't the best, admittedly. They were in the middle of No Man's Land, and Oswald was trying to load his rifle, and it was already hard enough sorting through your ammo behind cover without your riddle-obsessed roadie grabbing at your limbs.)_

"Does the offer still stand?" he'd asked dumbly. Oswald blinked at him slowly, eyebrows furrowing, mouth opening to speak- "I mean, the one you made at the docks-"

"I never _made you_ an offer," Oswald deadpanned, jerking out of Ed's grip, "and now wouldn't be the time if I had-"

"You said you loved me, yes?" Oswald paused mid-sentence, turning to stare at Ed with confusion in his eyes. "Is that not an offer of companionship?"

The Penguin continued to gape for a minute, before shaking himself out of his stupor and replying with a timidness that looked foreign on his sharp features. "It was," his voice was almost unbearably quiet under the gunfire, "and yes, it does. It still stands."

Ed nodded bluntly - "Then I'd like to take you up on it, as soon as we find ourselves in a more desirable situation." - and Oswald's face flickered with an avalanche of emotion.

Confusion, then concern, then anger, then confusion again - and then he smiled, small and uncertain, eyes flickering devilishly. "As you wish, Mr Nygma," he muttered, turning back to his gun.

* * *

They hadn't hit the ground running, not in the slightest. Oswald still tensed a little when Ed held a gun, and Ed still got a little angry when he remembered quite what Oswald had done for his attention - but it was better than it had been.

Nothing had been discussed, really, since Ed's initial question. They'd just sort of gone wherever the wind had blown them, so it was a surprise to nobody that they hadn't found much comfort in their relationship thus far - until Oswald had sighed one night, and turned to his new boyfriend in something like sadness.

"I never meant to hurt you," he admitted, "but she wasn't good for you."

And as much as he hated it, Ed's protective instincts reared their head, and he found himself glaring. "You say that because she disliked you."

"She disliked me because I was competition, because you loved me too." Oswald straightened his posture, puffed out a little, made himself bigger and more intimidating. "She didn't like Kristen, either, because we could take you away from her. You know that."

Ed sat in silence for a moment, not quite meeting Oswald's eyes, before muttering his last excuse. "I didn't love you then."

A beat. Two beats. Three beats.

Oswald's glare melted, body relaxing. His expression became strange, as if he were looking down on an injured puppy, and he took Ed's hand with a gentle fondness that he'd never seen the man express before. "Oh, Eddie," he spoke softly, his voice sweet and sad, "you _dumb motherfucker."_

Ed's head shot up in shocked anger, before noticing the gentle playfulness in Oswald's soft gaze, the small smile working its way on his face. He paused, blinking owlishly at him, trembling just a little in his hold. "What?"

"You dumb, dumb, _dumb_ motherfucker," Oswald was laughing a little now, though it was more fond than cruel; "how fucking deep is that closet of yours, baby?"

The taller man retracted his hand, eyebrows furrowing in confusion - and Oswald didn't seem to notice or care, too busy folding over in laughter, loud and warm and fond. "I don't understand," Ed admitted softly; Oswald only laughed louder.

It took a minute or two before Oswald calmed down, teary-eyed and grinning. "You're so gay for me," he said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world, "and you were then, too."

Ed blinked at him again. "But I can't be gay like you, I like girls."

Oswald's face creased in amusement again, but - to his credit - he seemed to make a conscious attempt to hold in his laughter. "You can like both, Ed, that's a thing you can do. That's a thing that you, in specific, can do."

The green-clad villain's eyebrows furrowed in some strange mix of confusion and understanding. "Oh."

"Yeah, Riddles, _oh."_ Oswald snorted, standing up. "Come on, though, Barbara's going to love this epiphany of ours."

**Author's Note:**

> *leans into mic* hello yes could the writers please make a soft domestic nygmobblepot spinoff with light-hearted Murder Husband Banter pls? ok bye
> 
> (EDIT: if you like this, feel free to yell w me on tumblr @jack-napiers!!)


End file.
